My Star Wars roleplay group went a different way for their rebell cell. They aquired an GR-75. They builded an hidden roll-on-roll-of flight deck behind the "upper layers" of containers. Containers at the front and end could be moved like an hangar door. The lower level of containers stayed functionally. They used every starfighter they could get their hands upon... but Y-Wings as their mainstay. Once they installed an massive dual ion cannon that used up the whole 90m of hidden hangar. Blasting an blockading Dreadnough cruiser, and while it was helpless, the Y-Wings deployed massiv bombs. One radio call later, a lot of escape capsules left the ship. And for maintaing the ship, they even used the functional part of the container area to trade and transport to keep their cell operating. With an legal trading license. They did all types of jobs. Kidnapping imperials from luxury ships, resupplying besieged rebels, obtaining equipment, smuggling equipment. They called it "pocket carrier".
1 GR-75 was used to transport 6 X-Wings so the idea is plausible but I would’ve gone with 12 V-19 armed with ion and concussion missiles to face off against a transport with Tie escort.
this has nothing to do with the GR-75 was the first big ship for x-wing???? if so? good on you for finding a use for it. lol we had an imperial assault/x-wing campaign and the poor GR-75 was just an objective.
Because the GR-75 is just a shell with racks within they are pretty much a blank slate. If a couple of cargo modules were replaced with really powerful shields, and a couple more cargo modules were replaced with a large reactor, and the engines augmented, the GR-75 would be an excellent carrier/base for piracy.
As far as modifications for any pirate's ship, I'd suggest finding weapons that are good at disabling a ship with minimal damage. I would prefer going with a reasonably powerful ion cannon if I could, something with enough power to disable a merchant ship. If that wasn't feasible, a torpedo launcher capable of handling ion torpedoes is the bare minimum.
Add in a tractor beam to hold them in place after you've disabled their systems. They may be in a roll or tumbling end over end, which would make docking difficult. Communication jammers would also be very beneficial. The last thing you want is law enforcement responding to a distress signal that was sent off before the target was disabled. Prehaps some kind of cutting beam/mining laser by the docking airlock to burn through their doors unless you have a portable tripod model sitting in your airlock. A cutter also gives the option to force an entry elsewhere than presumably where they've set up their defences. And of course, some man portable heavy weapons in case the boarding action gets nasty, although there's always the option to disengage and take pot shots at their ship till they take the hint. Combat driods, if available, would be very useful. With the recent ion shots, the target ship won't have any functioning combat driods. But a real risk is a ship that, unbeknownst to you, has a large combat force on board. It can be a sucker trap. Disabling the ship, unless they decide to surrender then and there, is just half the battle.
I'd probably go for the end goal of building a pirate fleet of 3-4 C-ROC Gozantis with some light starfighters and anchor the fleet with a single Arquittens cruiser, probably in 546 configuration (Version seen in the Mandalorian) so it could serve as a carrier for the fighters
Another possible modification for the CR80 hammerhead would be some kind of breaching system above or below the heavily armoured and reinforced prow. It rams a big ship and then cuts into its hull, and boarders in vaccum sealed armour storm in from the reinforced airlock that is set back but extends out once the ships are stuck together. And there's a tractor beam emitter to make sure the ships stay stuck together, despite any manoeuvres by the targeted cargo ship.
Hammerhead woo~ I love the fact Kotor inspired ships survived into the modern era. I am extremely happy with this~ The Arquitens is also a very useful ship for an actual fleet as well. For a pirate ship it would definitely get you a few looks for anti-imperial factions and pro-imperial factions. Definitely not as good against starfighters. Heckin love the Munificent. With droids it could be easy to fully crew, but even without it could be definitely altered to carry lots of cargo. Also very good cuz they were mobile hubs for the holonet, so espionage and traps are in your gasp as well.
My Rpg group played as Privateer's in the employ of a GM created Corporation. We used a Corellian CR-12 Bulk Transport (stock) called the Indomitable Gizka. Except the crew of 12 we all like ex mercenary commandos. We basically waited until a pirate ship tried to board us and then Pirated the pirates. LOL GOOD TIMES. When no pirates showed, we made Credits running cargo, or selling captured pirate ships and gear.
The Interceptor-class frigate. The Action VI transport was made canon in Attack of the Clones so the pirate modification might exist as well. The Action VI requires a crew of 8, at minimum some gunners would need to be added to for the Interceptor's 2 turbolasers and proton torpedo launcher. Talon Karrde from Legends ship, the Wild Karrde, included a small shuttle/fighter bay but lacked the torpedo launcher.
My pick would be Corellian Star Shuttle from end of the Ep. I (the one Palpatine used to arrive at Naboo for peace celebrations). It has oversized engines, can be easily retrofitted fir war (they were popular ship in Eriadu Outland Security Force), can carry 200 pirate boarders and a lot of plundered goods. Also, it's an old ship and pretty common at that... nobody would look at it twice.
Honestly pretty much any ship that is overloaded with ion cannons will do as a pirate ship in Star Wars. Since the goal is often to capture the ship and steal the cargo. Not destroy it. Any ship with a multitude of ion cannons can disable merchant ships (who are unlikely to put up much of a fight once their ship is disabled). Only caveat is that ion weapons are expensive and might not be an option for a beginner pirate.
I would get a CR-80 Sphyrna class hammerhead corvette and _go legit._ Being able to carry *22833 tonnes* of cargo in a ship that size, which only needs 46 crew, would result in big pay days even on goods with low profit margins. Apparently it utilised Gallifrayan dimensionally transcendental technology.
In my 24xx Star Wars, the squadron based off a heavily modified GR-75 Gallofree Transport :D I mean, kamown, it's UBIQITOUS. It's got an amazing amount of cargo, and even has an armed refit already for sale. My 24xx crew were Rebels at 2 BBY (since it seems a lot of "in-between" SW shows were set on or near that date), and the idea was that the Gallofree only served as a mobile base for FTL-capable fighters. The hold was actually just modified as a hangar for major repairs, with a U-Wing the only permanent inhabitant. The X-Wings, A-Wings, and Y-Wings, when not travelling, were tethered to the ship via tow cables that the pilot and ready crews would zip to when told to fly. It was the ULTIMATE in resistance on a budget :D But imagine a similar pirate crew, probably mostly Headhunter starfighters and 2-4 "salvaged" Y-Wings (if the crew of the Ghost can steal some, a good enough pirate crew can do the same, I say) that would lead in ship disabling. The modded Gallofree would only go into the AO once the target ship's been disabled, so the pirates can board her.
I would want a Kossak Frigate, a Corona class Armed Frigate (Hondo's ship from the Clone Wars), or a Nebulon-B with the same modifications as the Free Lance (Replace two Turbolasers with Ion cannons). For fighters I would take some mix of T-Wings, R-41 Starchasers, and Novaswords.
🛸 C-ROC Gozanti Cruiser, L 73.9 meters, W 22 meters, ¤190,000 credits, 1200 kph 🛸 CR90 Corvette, L 150 meters, W 48.6 meters, ¤1,200,000 credits, 950 kph 🛸 Sphyrna-class Hammerhead Corvette, L 116.7 meters, W 40-56 meters, ¤1,000,000 credits, 900 kph 🛸 Arquitens-class Light Cruiser, L 325 meters, W 135 meters, ¤4,000,000 credits, 750 kph ▶ Arquitens-class Command Cruiser, L 230 meters, W ▶ Class 546 Cruiser, L 381 meters, W Width 163 m, Height/depth 66 m[3] 🛸 Munificent-class Star Frigate, L 825 meters, W 426 meters, ¤12,000,000 credits, 950 kph "Nice List! I Like it! Another!" 🎆 SMASH! 🎆 "I'll take them ALL!" First off, there are different models in the Arquitens' design lineage just as there are different models & variants of the Gozanti Cruiser. The Arquitens-class Light Cruiser, L 325 meters, Clone Wars & later eras. The Arquitens-class Command Cruiser, L 230 meters, Imperial & later eras. The Class 546 Cruiser, L 381 meters, New Republic era. In the 15 BBY campaign i'm making, both the Light Cruiser & the Command Cruiser are common & still restricted to Imperial Navy. Command Cruisers are just now beginning to overtake the Light Cruiser in the fleet, as Light Cruiser production is less than 10% of the Command Cruisers'. Command Cruisers are cheaper & faster to build, & easier to crew. In this campaign, Pirates, Privateers, Separatist Holdouts & rebels use whatever they can, & there are multiple such groups with widely varying fleet compositions. Almost anything from EU/Legends is fair game, so ships from the KotOR era to the Clone Wars are in play. Currently i'm crafting two groups of Mandalorian Privateers, one with a heavily modified/upgraded Invincible-class Dreadnaught Heavy Cruiser is the centerpiece/flagship of their fleet, while the other has an upgraded Terminus-class Destroyer as their flagship. A Pantoran Smuggler-turned-Privateer, salvaged a derelict Dreadnaught-class Cruiser & had it heavily modified/upgraded prior to the Clone Wars. The rest of his flotilla is mainly a mix of Corvettes (Marauder, CR90, Sphyrna), various Gunships & a Cumulus-class Corsair or two... I'm also making an Imperial Depot where Your List (& then some) can be found... Defended by Arquitens-class Light Cruisers & Imperial Gozantis, there'll be a few Venators mothballed with the Separatist ships!
A good modus operandi would be to switch between piracy and just transporting high value goods yourself, with a fair bit of smuggling on the side. The cargo runs (legal and illegal) keep you in business and the piracy is bonus money. Plus the legitimate work gives you both a easy way to sell your stolen goods and especially to gain intelligence on juicy targets. You'll be able to see what cargo jobs are available and be able to scout out potential prey. And as for taking out fellow smugglers... Although, _ahem,_ making sure your victims can't report on your ship would be advisable, if you plan to keep pulling the "legitimate businessman" stunt. Tractored escape pods are probably worth a lot to slavers if you want even more profit, with the slight risk of one of them later escaping, and you don't want to simply use the pods for target practice to leave no witnesses. Or just have a ship that can change its appearance (bit of paintwork, perhaps sliding panels) and transponder codes so that it has a good ID and a separate bad guy ID. For the ultimate irony if you can carry fast snubfighters, also do some Bounty Hunting work when the opportunity presents itself. You'll be mixing with criminal elements that have good prices on their heads. And hunting the pirate competition is a good laugh, as well as other Bounty Hunter jobs.. Being able to switch occupations depending not only on opportunities but on how risky each occupation currently is in the local space is useful. Doing piracy constantly will eventually draw a lot of attention to you, some of it heavily armed with a task force. So at that point go legit for a while, maybe in another part of the Galaxy. But with your various careers, you will have the added benifits that if your secrets ever get out, you'll at least know who your enemies are ..... _everyone._
Problem is, except in special cases, bounties seem to be kept close to the chest for the Bounty Hunters Guild. But if you had a couple of members of The Guild among your crew, you could screen the occupants of the victim ships as potential bounties to bring in. To get around being detected and reported just have the sort of transponder code switcher that ships like The Ghost and Luthen Rael's Fondor Haulcraft, have.
For a compact Pirate fleet I'd probably start with a YZ-775. It's well armed with a twin Turbolaser turret, twin laser turrets and even torpedo tubes. Plus can carry a decent deal of cargo without being as big and heavy on crew requirements as a Corellian corvette. It also has the option of dropping one or both of its laser turrets for a fighter rack giving it 4 or 8 small fighters, at the cost of firepower. A few of these, one as a carrier and another one or two as gunships would be quite potent. I would prefer ion weapons on the fighters, but it's not a requirement. The AIAT/i, is a well armed assault gunship, giving a pirate force a valuable troop carrying and insertion ability. Not all Piracy takes place in space after all. It's well armed, tough, and reliable. It can carry a solid number of troops and speeders for fast attack options. If it could fit a patrol speeder that would give a good amount of firepower, but the listed 4 speeder bikes is still enough.
Interesting that you mention the Munificent class, as my Clone Wars Era droid/crime lord actually captured several during the war and hid them in the Koboh Abyss.
Logically a lot of pirates should have received the opportunity to get their hands on Munificent-frigates after Vader massacred the Separatist Council on Mustafar and deactivated all droid forces! Who would miss the chance to have a Munificent or maybe more to start his or her own pirate organization?
The parameters that you set re. numbers of pirates are genius. Loving your content - the more left field the better! Best speeder for a first date, best droid in a medical emergency etc.
@@RadioFreeCoruscant I love space, star wars, pirates and imagining I’m in extreme versions of situations that are very unlikely to happen to me, and then describing the very everyday details - so this video was hitting a lot of marks!
Actually old school pirates ships had about 400+ crew back then And depending on how big of a ship they will have they might need at lest 1,000+ crew just to run the ship. If they get a light or medium freighter then yes 20-200 is about right but if they get a capital ship 1,000 minimum.
The C-ROCs are a favorite of mine and would be perfect for a small pirate crew. I mean you gotta love the retractable weapon mounts for 'stealth' missions and they are so ubiquitous that they disappear in a crowded spaceport. My only quibble is that other than the four docking mounts on the ventral side there's no real place to store/carry small fighters. Unless you modify one of the cargo holds or the lower deck into a hanger.
@@RadioFreeCoruscant right on! The MC-3 Scyk fighter is a deep cut but is perfect for a pirate group. I could see the C-ROC having the capacity, for externally-held fighters, but its internal space doesn’t seem large enough. Especially since the wings of the Scyk don’t fold up. But the Scyk is pretty tiny.
In my personal story, my character has a DB model CIS carrier which can house up to 1500 troops. It holds up to 8 drop ships. And after taking measurements, each dropship can house 28 sail barges each. Each sail barge can house up to 500 passengers. So in other words, my pirate crew can have a total of 127,000 pirates after my calculations
I might be totally wrong but I thought the hammerhead max cargo was so high because it used the hammer head part to lock into freight containers. Can someone confirm/deny? I might be thinking of another content universe
It wasn’t the hammer head part specifically, but there was an external cargo rack in the bottom of the ‘neck’ section right behind the head, so that might be what you’re thinking of. And if you like the Hammerhead, you’re going to like this week’s video!
Nice vid. But I don't agree with Arquitens and Munificent. One they are Military grade ships. And it would be a suicide to attempt acquiring or commandeering one. Like the CR90, Hammerhead and CROC Gozanti These are better options 1. Mobquette Freighter 110m cargo even larger than hammerhead. It literally looks like a space truck and extremely cheep and modular. 2. CR110 - 170m with 2 heavy laser cannons on front along with slide hatch hangar/ docks for 6 snub fighters. 3. SCT Scout craft. It's pretty mobile and great for a handful of start out pirates. I play Star Wars RPG table top. And I started with a Mobquette disguised as a farmer transport. But my cargo holds 3 snub fighters (uglies) Eventually he now have an Asteroid station as a home base. His mothership is aTon Falk Escort Carrier heavily modified to look like a reptilian goldfish. Holds 3 squadrons of snub fighters and assorted vessels. He also has 2x CR75 Corvettes as gunboats. He is pretty formidable for a rag tag band of pirates crew of about 400. But I wouldn't mess off even with medium size Imperial vessel.
I can imagine a scenario where a Munificent is abandoned in deep space, when the shutdown order for the droids was sent. But yea, as seen in the Mandalorian Arquitens-class light cruiser would be likely to stay in the hands of Imperial Warlords, so unless one was found mothballed on a scrap planet or damaged to the point of abandonment at the site a forgotten Clone Wars battle, or bought at a premium from a planetary fleet looking to upgrade their aging fleet, it doesn’t seem likely that one would be as available. That said, it is canon that The First Order was arming pirates with surplus and outdated Imperial hardware in their efforts to undermine the New Republic and generally destabilize the Mid- and Otter-Rim. So, a pirate group could be outfitted with a smaller support-sized ship like a Arquitens-class light cruiser.
@@jeffreycarman2185 right. Perfectly agree with that as FO clearly has an agenda. Shown in the force awakens as an independent forces having access to an Arquitense, but I'm assuming that is but a shell of the original War Capable ship it once was. However based on the general topic, the timeline is more likely during the Galactic Imperial Era or just just post Republic going towards the New Republic. If I would be a pirate during the New Republic Era. I'd look for sponsors and be a privateer on independent sector. ( Kinda like the privateers in Spainish Armada during the 15th century) in fact it's what the Mandos did on Plasir V on the show which is during New Republic Era. So it is fully dependent on the Standing Government. A pirate has to come up with the most legal ways to practice it's illicit activities and get the most profits. If I would be a pirate during the Clone Wars era. I'd do it different too, and also different during the High Republic. And honestly I would love the Clone Wars era. The Republic will be too busy with the CIS. And if captured, we could always claim that we were hired by CIS or vise versa depending on our target job. Plus there will be more readily available man power during war time, from places that has been dispersed, between the conflict.
The CR 90 Is a good ship in general I would defenitley pick that as a pirate ship or any ship Corellian Engineering Corporation knows how to make ships.
Personally my preferred flagship for my mercenary/pirate fleet is a rebuilt and modified Gladiator class Star Destroyer. They found it stuck onto the bottom half of a massive asteroid with the bridge superstructure, a good bit of the dorsal hull plating and dorsal weapon batteries removed from scraping along the asteroid. The crew's best guess was that it exited Hyperspace too late to avoid the collision.
I believe the Crusader - class corvette, would’ve been the perfect pirate ship. It’s point-defense laser cannons can come in real handy, when facing fighters, missiles or light armor targets.
I expected to find a lot of fault with this list, but in the Star Wars milieu, large, fast corvettes, frigates, and light cruisers would be ideally sized; small crew requirements, large enough to overpower merchant ships and defend themselves from attack, but with enough speed to disengage if confronted by more powerful forces.
Thanks, I’m glad you like them! I download a top-down image of the ship and then trace it by hand in Photoshop. Then, I take the tracing into After Effects and use it as a template for the Saber plugin. I also do some other edits to give it sort of a VHS look.
in truth, i could see a heavily modified Venator, broadside turbo lasers replaced with heavy ion cannon batteries, Torpedo launch tubes... added point defense guns to increase defensive coverage... But not quite operating as a pirate ship, but a "privateer" With some planets paying off the crew to "help out". Operating almost as a legend, appearing out of nebula's and asteroid fields, hitting imperial ships with fighter, bomber, and heavy firepower... anything short of a star destroyer being beaten down hard... and even single star destroyers not standing much of a chance against its massive Ion broadside followed by being ripped apart by bombers and and the turbo lasers... Before vanishing again. Hehe, a real "secret" would be if the group had 2 or 3 of these ships, all painted identical, all flying the same flags, all showing the same transponder... BUT only 1 ever appearing at a time... so for example, as a star destroyer chases one twards a gas giant, the ship turns sideways diving into the rings... breaking sensor contact, a moment later the "same ship" jumps in behind the star destroyer and opens up on its engines point blank range...
Wow, that’s a really cool idea! A Venator is outside the scope I had in mind for this video, but if you could get your hands on one it would be a very versatile platform for whatever kind of operation you wanted to run out of it, pirate or otherwise.
@@RadioFreeCoruscant 38 million credits used blackmarket... You can see some "rich" planetary official or busness man, who lost their family due to the "Empire". Maybe had ties to the old separatists. Cuts a deal with several other "backers" who are mad at the empire, who bank roll him. A hand full of droids and special team "liberate" the ship from a planetary breaking yard. Moving it to a hidden location, and they begin to load it out, refit and re arm it. carrying a mis match of mixed fighters, z-95's, Y-wings, Tie fighters, lamda shuttles, A-wings, as well as hand fulls of fighters belonging to different groups. One squad painted up as pike syndicate for example. carrying out pirate attacks that will be blamed on other pirate groups... hidden hit and run... image of an Arquitence escorting several imperial freighters when across an ice ring around a planet, as the arq travels behind and below it, the twin towers of the venator break through the rings leaving a wake behidn them as the ship rises up, its guns slowly pointing up and opening fire on the light cruiser... once clear of teh field its bay doors open and bombers lauch to disable the transports and tow them on board the ven. hehe.
cr90 corvette? the cost is a tad high for pirates? hammerhead on the other hand, they have been flying for over three thousand years. they are cheap to get and maintain due to the availability of parts. if one was willing to price shop i bet they could find two hammerheads and a few z-95s for the price of one cr90. that's my pick from your list of five anyway, fun video thank you.
Hey, sorry to be a nerd but moff gideons ship from the mandalorian was a 546 command cruiser, not an arquetens. Slightly different, but that may be the root of the size problem
My Star Wars roleplay group went a different way for their rebell cell. They aquired an GR-75. They builded an hidden roll-on-roll-of flight deck behind the "upper layers" of containers. Containers at the front and end could be moved like an hangar door. The lower level of containers stayed functionally. They used every starfighter they could get their hands upon... but Y-Wings as their mainstay. Once they installed an massive dual ion cannon that used up the whole 90m of hidden hangar. Blasting an blockading Dreadnough cruiser, and while it was helpless, the Y-Wings deployed massiv bombs. One radio call later, a lot of escape capsules left the ship.
And for maintaing the ship, they even used the functional part of the container area to trade and transport to keep their cell operating. With an legal trading license.
They did all types of jobs. Kidnapping imperials from luxury ships, resupplying besieged rebels, obtaining equipment, smuggling equipment.
They called it "pocket carrier".
1 GR-75 was used to transport 6 X-Wings so the idea is plausible but I would’ve gone with 12 V-19 armed with ion and concussion missiles to face off against a transport with Tie escort.
this has nothing to do with the GR-75 was the first big ship for x-wing????
if so? good on you for finding a use for it. lol
we had an imperial assault/x-wing campaign and the poor GR-75 was just an objective.
Builded ? Really?
Because the GR-75 is just a shell with racks within they are pretty much a blank slate. If a couple of cargo modules were replaced with really powerful shields, and a couple more cargo modules were replaced with a large reactor, and the engines augmented, the GR-75 would be an excellent carrier/base for piracy.
As far as modifications for any pirate's ship, I'd suggest finding weapons that are good at disabling a ship with minimal damage. I would prefer going with a reasonably powerful ion cannon if I could, something with enough power to disable a merchant ship. If that wasn't feasible, a torpedo launcher capable of handling ion torpedoes is the bare minimum.
Those would definitely be the first upgrades I’d get!
True plus if you can find stealth tech.
Basically try to remove what emissions you ship produces so it can sneak up on your prey.
Say can you make a video on hondo ohnaka's spaceship from star wars the clone wars @@RadioFreeCoruscant
Add in a tractor beam to hold them in place after you've disabled their systems.
They may be in a roll or tumbling end over end, which would make docking difficult.
Communication jammers would also be very beneficial. The last thing you want is law enforcement responding to a distress signal that was sent off before the target was disabled.
Prehaps some kind of cutting beam/mining laser by the docking airlock to burn through their doors unless you have a portable tripod model sitting in your airlock. A cutter also gives the option to force an entry elsewhere than presumably where they've set up their defences.
And of course, some man portable heavy weapons in case the boarding action gets nasty, although there's always the option to disengage and take pot shots at their ship till they take the hint.
Combat driods, if available, would be very useful. With the recent ion shots, the target ship won't have any functioning combat driods.
But a real risk is a ship that, unbeknownst to you, has a large combat force on board. It can be a sucker trap.
Disabling the ship, unless they decide to surrender then and there, is just half the battle.
That's ion cannons and connor nets, and yes, those are favorites of pirates throughout the galaxy.
Your ship videos are fantastic, but this one had the added beauty of the music you chose to go with each choice. Brilliant and well done!
Thanks!
I'd probably go for the end goal of building a pirate fleet of 3-4 C-ROC Gozantis with some light starfighters and anchor the fleet with a single Arquittens cruiser, probably in 546 configuration (Version seen in the Mandalorian) so it could serve as a carrier for the fighters
Another possible modification for the CR80 hammerhead would be some kind of breaching system above or below the heavily armoured and reinforced prow.
It rams a big ship and then cuts into its hull, and boarders in vaccum sealed armour storm in from the reinforced airlock that is set back but extends out once the ships are stuck together.
And there's a tractor beam emitter to make sure the ships stay stuck together, despite any manoeuvres by the targeted cargo ship.
Hammerhead woo~
I love the fact Kotor inspired ships survived into the modern era. I am extremely happy with this~
The Arquitens is also a very useful ship for an actual fleet as well. For a pirate ship it would definitely get you a few looks for anti-imperial factions and pro-imperial factions. Definitely not as good against starfighters.
Heckin love the Munificent. With droids it could be easy to fully crew, but even without it could be definitely altered to carry lots of cargo. Also very good cuz they were mobile hubs for the holonet, so espionage and traps are in your gasp as well.
My Rpg group played as Privateer's in the employ of a GM created Corporation. We used a Corellian CR-12 Bulk Transport (stock) called the Indomitable Gizka. Except the crew of 12 we all like ex mercenary commandos. We basically waited until a pirate ship tried to board us and then Pirated the pirates. LOL GOOD TIMES. When no pirates showed, we made Credits running cargo, or selling captured pirate ships and gear.
That sounds fun!
The Interceptor-class frigate. The Action VI transport was made canon in Attack of the Clones so the pirate modification might exist as well. The Action VI requires a crew of 8, at minimum some gunners would need to be added to for the Interceptor's 2 turbolasers and proton torpedo launcher. Talon Karrde from Legends ship, the Wild Karrde, included a small shuttle/fighter bay but lacked the torpedo launcher.
I would go for the Legends Interceptor stats so six Turbolasers and three Proton Torpedo tubes though I might replace the Torp Tubes with Ion Cannons.
My pick would be Corellian Star Shuttle from end of the Ep. I (the one Palpatine used to arrive at Naboo for peace celebrations). It has oversized engines, can be easily retrofitted fir war (they were popular ship in Eriadu Outland Security Force), can carry 200 pirate boarders and a lot of plundered goods. Also, it's an old ship and pretty common at that... nobody would look at it twice.
Honestly pretty much any ship that is overloaded with ion cannons will do as a pirate ship in Star Wars. Since the goal is often to capture the ship and steal the cargo. Not destroy it. Any ship with a multitude of ion cannons can disable merchant ships (who are unlikely to put up much of a fight once their ship is disabled). Only caveat is that ion weapons are expensive and might not be an option for a beginner pirate.
I would get a CR-80 Sphyrna class hammerhead corvette and _go legit._ Being able to carry *22833 tonnes* of cargo in a ship that size, which only needs 46 crew, would result in big pay days even on goods with low profit margins.
Apparently it utilised Gallifrayan dimensionally transcendental technology.
In my 24xx Star Wars, the squadron based off a heavily modified GR-75 Gallofree Transport :D
I mean, kamown, it's UBIQITOUS. It's got an amazing amount of cargo, and even has an armed refit already for sale.
My 24xx crew were Rebels at 2 BBY (since it seems a lot of "in-between" SW shows were set on or near that date), and the idea was that the Gallofree only served as a mobile base for FTL-capable fighters. The hold was actually just modified as a hangar for major repairs, with a U-Wing the only permanent inhabitant. The X-Wings, A-Wings, and Y-Wings, when not travelling, were tethered to the ship via tow cables that the pilot and ready crews would zip to when told to fly. It was the ULTIMATE in resistance on a budget :D
But imagine a similar pirate crew, probably mostly Headhunter starfighters and 2-4 "salvaged" Y-Wings (if the crew of the Ghost can steal some, a good enough pirate crew can do the same, I say) that would lead in ship disabling.
The modded Gallofree would only go into the AO once the target ship's been disabled, so the pirates can board her.
I would want a Kossak Frigate, a Corona class Armed Frigate (Hondo's ship from the Clone Wars), or a Nebulon-B with the same modifications as the Free Lance (Replace two Turbolasers with Ion cannons). For fighters I would take some mix of T-Wings, R-41 Starchasers, and Novaswords.
🛸 C-ROC Gozanti Cruiser, L 73.9 meters, W 22 meters, ¤190,000 credits, 1200 kph
🛸 CR90 Corvette, L 150 meters, W 48.6 meters, ¤1,200,000 credits, 950 kph
🛸 Sphyrna-class Hammerhead Corvette, L 116.7 meters, W 40-56 meters, ¤1,000,000 credits, 900 kph
🛸 Arquitens-class Light Cruiser, L 325 meters, W 135 meters, ¤4,000,000 credits, 750 kph
▶ Arquitens-class Command Cruiser, L 230 meters, W
▶ Class 546 Cruiser, L 381 meters, W Width 163 m, Height/depth 66 m[3]
🛸 Munificent-class Star Frigate, L 825 meters, W 426 meters, ¤12,000,000 credits, 950 kph
"Nice List! I Like it! Another!" 🎆 SMASH! 🎆 "I'll take them ALL!"
First off, there are different models in the Arquitens' design lineage just as there are different models & variants of the Gozanti Cruiser.
The Arquitens-class Light Cruiser, L 325 meters, Clone Wars & later eras.
The Arquitens-class Command Cruiser, L 230 meters, Imperial & later eras.
The Class 546 Cruiser, L 381 meters, New Republic era.
In the 15 BBY campaign i'm making, both the Light Cruiser & the Command Cruiser are common & still restricted to Imperial Navy. Command Cruisers are just now beginning to overtake the Light Cruiser in the fleet, as Light Cruiser production is less than 10% of the Command Cruisers'. Command Cruisers are cheaper & faster to build, & easier to crew.
In this campaign, Pirates, Privateers, Separatist Holdouts & rebels use whatever they can, & there are multiple such groups with widely varying fleet compositions.
Almost anything from EU/Legends is fair game, so ships from the KotOR era to the Clone Wars are in play. Currently i'm crafting two groups of Mandalorian Privateers,
one with a heavily modified/upgraded Invincible-class Dreadnaught Heavy Cruiser is the centerpiece/flagship of their fleet, while the other has an upgraded Terminus-class Destroyer as their flagship.
A Pantoran Smuggler-turned-Privateer, salvaged a derelict Dreadnaught-class Cruiser & had it heavily modified/upgraded prior to the Clone Wars. The rest of his flotilla
is mainly a mix of Corvettes (Marauder, CR90, Sphyrna), various Gunships & a Cumulus-class Corsair or two...
I'm also making an Imperial Depot where Your List (& then some) can be found...
Defended by Arquitens-class Light Cruisers & Imperial Gozantis, there'll be a few Venators mothballed with the Separatist ships!
A good modus operandi would be to switch between piracy and just transporting high value goods yourself, with a fair bit of smuggling on the side.
The cargo runs (legal and illegal) keep you in business and the piracy is bonus money. Plus the legitimate work gives you both a easy way to sell your stolen goods and especially to gain intelligence on juicy targets.
You'll be able to see what cargo jobs are available and be able to scout out potential prey.
And as for taking out fellow smugglers...
Although, _ahem,_ making sure your victims can't report on your ship would be advisable, if you plan to keep pulling the "legitimate businessman" stunt.
Tractored escape pods are probably worth a lot to slavers if you want even more profit, with the slight risk of one of them later escaping, and you don't want to simply use the pods for target practice to leave no witnesses.
Or just have a ship that can change its appearance (bit of paintwork, perhaps sliding panels) and transponder codes so that it has a good ID and a separate bad guy ID.
For the ultimate irony if you can carry fast snubfighters, also do some Bounty Hunting work when the opportunity presents itself.
You'll be mixing with criminal elements that have good prices on their heads.
And hunting the pirate competition is a good laugh, as well as other Bounty Hunter jobs..
Being able to switch occupations depending not only on opportunities but on how risky each occupation currently is in the local space is useful. Doing piracy constantly will eventually draw a lot of attention to you, some of it heavily armed with a task force.
So at that point go legit for a while, maybe in another part of the Galaxy.
But with your various careers, you will have the added benifits that if your secrets ever get out, you'll at least know who your enemies are ..... _everyone._
Problem is, except in special cases, bounties seem to be kept close to the chest for the Bounty Hunters Guild. But if you had a couple of members of The Guild among your crew, you could screen the occupants of the victim ships as potential bounties to bring in.
To get around being detected and reported just have the sort of transponder code switcher that ships like The Ghost and Luthen Rael's Fondor Haulcraft, have.
"not all treasure is silver and gold mate"-Jack Sparrow
Jack seemed to care about his ship Black Pearl and Rum that is accurate
Some consider such wise words as a treasure onto itself.
@@JBTriple8
Jack dosent collect gold, like typically pirate would. He instead collects rum with his personal rum collection.
For a compact Pirate fleet I'd probably start with a YZ-775. It's well armed with a twin Turbolaser turret, twin laser turrets and even torpedo tubes. Plus can carry a decent deal of cargo without being as big and heavy on crew requirements as a Corellian corvette. It also has the option of dropping one or both of its laser turrets for a fighter rack giving it 4 or 8 small fighters, at the cost of firepower. A few of these, one as a carrier and another one or two as gunships would be quite potent. I would prefer ion weapons on the fighters, but it's not a requirement.
The AIAT/i, is a well armed assault gunship, giving a pirate force a valuable troop carrying and insertion ability. Not all Piracy takes place in space after all.
It's well armed, tough, and reliable. It can carry a solid number of troops and speeders for fast attack options. If it could fit a patrol speeder that would give a good amount of firepower, but the listed 4 speeder bikes is still enough.
I like your thinking!
A modified dp20 with ion torpedoes
i think both the pelta(with modifications) would be a good ship and as a good flagship ig one could afford would be a providence or maybe a quazar
If we are going with a light Cruiser for piracy the Carrack ion variant would be better
Interesting that you mention the Munificent class, as my Clone Wars Era droid/crime lord actually captured several during the war and hid them in the Koboh Abyss.
My 5 would be…
1) Hutt Minstrel-class space yacht w/6 Cloakshape fighters “Yellowhammer”
2) Sentinel-class landing craft “Foxglove”
3) Action VI armed freighter “Merchantman”
4) Vigil class Corvette “Moon Lily”
5) AA-9 armed freighter “East Indianman”
Baleen-class heavy freighter, you can 'eat' a Arquitens and still have room to take it apart all inside your ship...
Logically a lot of pirates should have received the opportunity to get their hands on Munificent-frigates after Vader massacred the Separatist Council on Mustafar and deactivated all droid forces! Who would miss the chance to have a Munificent or maybe more to start his or her own pirate organization?
The parameters that you set re. numbers of pirates are genius. Loving your content - the more left field the better! Best speeder for a first date, best droid in a medical emergency etc.
Thanks, I’m glad you like it! Those are both great ideas!
@@RadioFreeCoruscant I love space, star wars, pirates and imagining I’m in extreme versions of situations that are very unlikely to happen to me, and then describing the very everyday details - so this video was hitting a lot of marks!
Actually old school pirates ships had about 400+ crew back then
And depending on how big of a ship they will have they might need at lest 1,000+ crew just to run the ship.
If they get a light or medium freighter then yes 20-200 is about right but if they get a capital ship
1,000 minimum.
Dude this video is very helpful thanks
(I'm trying to design a starwars crew and I need inspiration for a ship)
Glad I could help!
@@RadioFreeCoruscant
Thanks again
The C-ROCs are a favorite of mine and would be perfect for a small pirate crew. I mean you gotta love the retractable weapon mounts for 'stealth' missions and they are so ubiquitous that they disappear in a crowded spaceport.
My only quibble is that other than the four docking mounts on the ventral side there's no real place to store/carry small fighters. Unless you modify one of the cargo holds or the lower deck into a hanger.
Supposedly it can be modified to carry four M3-A Scyk-class Starfighters, but I don’t know how that’s supposed to work.
@@RadioFreeCoruscant right on! The MC-3 Scyk fighter is a deep cut but is perfect for a pirate group. I could see the C-ROC having the capacity, for externally-held fighters, but its internal space doesn’t seem large enough. Especially since the wings of the Scyk don’t fold up. But the Scyk is pretty tiny.
In my personal story, my character has a DB model CIS carrier which can house up to 1500 troops. It holds up to 8 drop ships. And after taking measurements, each dropship can house 28 sail barges each. Each sail barge can house up to 500 passengers. So in other words, my pirate crew can have a total of 127,000 pirates after my calculations
I might be totally wrong but I thought the hammerhead max cargo was so high because it used the hammer head part to lock into freight containers. Can someone confirm/deny? I might be thinking of another content universe
It wasn’t the hammer head part specifically, but there was an external cargo rack in the bottom of the ‘neck’ section right behind the head, so that might be what you’re thinking of.
And if you like the Hammerhead, you’re going to like this week’s video!
This video (and one other) were enough for me to subscribe to this channel! Well done!!
Thanks!
Why there no KDY ships on the list??
Nice vid. But I don't agree with Arquitens and Munificent. One they are Military grade ships. And it would be a suicide to attempt acquiring or commandeering one.
Like the CR90, Hammerhead and CROC Gozanti
These are better options
1. Mobquette Freighter
110m cargo even larger than hammerhead. It literally looks like a space truck and extremely cheep and modular.
2. CR110 - 170m with 2 heavy laser cannons on front along with slide hatch hangar/ docks for 6 snub fighters.
3. SCT Scout craft. It's pretty mobile and great for a handful of start out pirates.
I play Star Wars RPG table top. And I started with a Mobquette disguised as a farmer transport. But my cargo holds 3 snub fighters (uglies)
Eventually he now have an Asteroid station as a home base.
His mothership is aTon Falk Escort Carrier heavily modified to look like a reptilian goldfish. Holds 3 squadrons of snub fighters and assorted vessels.
He also has 2x CR75 Corvettes as gunboats. He is pretty formidable for a rag tag band of pirates crew of about 400. But I wouldn't mess off even with medium size Imperial vessel.
I can imagine a scenario where a Munificent is abandoned in deep space, when the shutdown order for the droids was sent. But yea, as seen in the Mandalorian Arquitens-class light cruiser would be likely to stay in the hands of Imperial Warlords, so unless one was found mothballed on a scrap planet or damaged to the point of abandonment at the site a forgotten Clone Wars battle, or bought at a premium from a planetary fleet looking to upgrade their aging fleet, it doesn’t seem likely that one would be as available.
That said, it is canon that The First Order was arming pirates with surplus and outdated Imperial hardware in their efforts to undermine the New Republic and generally destabilize the Mid- and Otter-Rim. So, a pirate group could be outfitted with a smaller support-sized ship like a Arquitens-class light cruiser.
@@jeffreycarman2185 right. Perfectly agree with that as FO clearly has an agenda. Shown in the force awakens as an independent forces having access to an Arquitense, but I'm assuming that is but a shell of the original War Capable ship it once was. However based on the general topic, the timeline is more likely during the Galactic Imperial Era or just just post Republic going towards the New Republic.
If I would be a pirate during the New Republic Era. I'd look for sponsors and be a privateer on independent sector. ( Kinda like the privateers in Spainish Armada during the 15th century) in fact it's what the Mandos did on Plasir V on the show which is during New Republic Era. So it is fully dependent on the Standing Government. A pirate has to come up with the most legal ways to practice it's illicit activities and get the most profits. If I would be a pirate during the Clone Wars era. I'd do it different too, and also different during the High Republic.
And honestly I would love the Clone Wars era. The Republic will be too busy with the CIS. And if captured, we could always claim that we were hired by CIS or vise versa depending on our target job. Plus there will be more readily available man power during war time, from places that has been dispersed, between the conflict.
The CR 90 Is a good ship in general I would defenitley pick that as a pirate ship or any ship Corellian Engineering Corporation knows how to make ships.
I’ll round up some droid crew and some Mando’s and take an acclimator 2 class warship
I swear, I followed you months ago and I have to fight UA-cam for unsubscribing me
Personally my preferred flagship for my mercenary/pirate fleet is a rebuilt and modified Gladiator class Star Destroyer.
They found it stuck onto the bottom half of a massive asteroid with the bridge superstructure, a good bit of the dorsal hull plating and dorsal weapon batteries removed from scraping along the asteroid.
The crew's best guess was that it exited Hyperspace too late to avoid the collision.
love the red dawn shoutout
I believe the Crusader - class corvette, would’ve been the perfect pirate ship. It’s point-defense laser cannons can come in real handy, when facing fighters, missiles or light armor targets.
I expected to find a lot of fault with this list, but in the Star Wars milieu, large, fast corvettes, frigates, and light cruisers would be ideally sized; small crew requirements, large enough to overpower merchant ships and defend themselves from attack, but with enough speed to disengage if confronted by more powerful forces.
What were you expecting instead?
@@RadioFreeCoruscant Mostly smaller ships and captured capital ships?
I think the arquitens vary in length around the connection between the body and engine where the taper is
I think the Gozanti is a good choice for a pirate/smuggler/bounty hunter group.
I have a question. what softwear or app do you used for the custom ship top down shot in minute 6.04. they look really good :)
Thanks, I’m glad you like them! I download a top-down image of the ship and then trace it by hand in Photoshop. Then, I take the tracing into After Effects and use it as a template for the Saber plugin. I also do some other edits to give it sort of a VHS look.
The 546 Class Arquitens could carry between 8 and 12 TIE Fighters.
Consular-class. Particularly the Charger c70 retrofits.
An Gozanti or Sphyrna
in truth, i could see a heavily modified Venator, broadside turbo lasers replaced with heavy ion cannon batteries, Torpedo launch tubes... added point defense guns to increase defensive coverage... But not quite operating as a pirate ship, but a "privateer" With some planets paying off the crew to "help out".
Operating almost as a legend, appearing out of nebula's and asteroid fields, hitting imperial ships with fighter, bomber, and heavy firepower... anything short of a star destroyer being beaten down hard... and even single star destroyers not standing much of a chance against its massive Ion broadside followed by being ripped apart by bombers and and the turbo lasers... Before vanishing again.
Hehe, a real "secret" would be if the group had 2 or 3 of these ships, all painted identical, all flying the same flags, all showing the same transponder... BUT only 1 ever appearing at a time... so for example, as a star destroyer chases one twards a gas giant, the ship turns sideways diving into the rings... breaking sensor contact, a moment later the "same ship" jumps in behind the star destroyer and opens up on its engines point blank range...
Wow, that’s a really cool idea! A Venator is outside the scope I had in mind for this video, but if you could get your hands on one it would be a very versatile platform for whatever kind of operation you wanted to run out of it, pirate or otherwise.
@@RadioFreeCoruscant 38 million credits used blackmarket... You can see some "rich" planetary official or busness man, who lost their family due to the "Empire". Maybe had ties to the old separatists. Cuts a deal with several other "backers" who are mad at the empire, who bank roll him.
A hand full of droids and special team "liberate" the ship from a planetary breaking yard. Moving it to a hidden location, and they begin to load it out, refit and re arm it.
carrying a mis match of mixed fighters, z-95's, Y-wings, Tie fighters, lamda shuttles, A-wings, as well as hand fulls of fighters belonging to different groups. One squad painted up as pike syndicate for example.
carrying out pirate attacks that will be blamed on other pirate groups... hidden hit and run...
image of an Arquitence escorting several imperial freighters when across an ice ring around a planet, as the arq travels behind and below it, the twin towers of the venator break through the rings leaving a wake behidn them as the ship rises up, its guns slowly pointing up and opening fire on the light cruiser... once clear of teh field its bay doors open and bombers lauch to disable the transports and tow them on board the ven.
hehe.
@@RadioFreeCoruscant you'd almost thing i was a writer LOL.
we went with a wayfarer class cargo ship
Not sure if this is a canon ship but the YV-969 is also a great ship for piracy.
cr90 corvette?
the cost is a tad high for pirates?
hammerhead on the other hand, they have been flying for over three thousand years.
they are cheap to get and maintain due to the availability of parts. if one was willing to price shop i bet they could find two hammerheads and a few z-95s for the price of one cr90.
that's my pick from your list of five anyway, fun video thank you.
Hey, sorry to be a nerd but moff gideons ship from the mandalorian was a 546 command cruiser, not an arquetens. Slightly different, but that may be the root of the size problem
Sabbath class destroyer